An Easter tradition to enjoy with loved ones who live far away

I have been concerned over the years that too often our youth (and, unfortunately, even some of our more experienced members) are prone to confuse sentimentality with spirituality, tears with testimony. Let me illustrate. One Mutual night as I came out of my bishop’s office, I noticed that the members of the Laurel class were huddled in the hall and in the midst of what seemed to be quite a fascinating discussion. They appeared to be talking about one of the young women in their class who had, during the last year, slipped out of Church activity.

The following article originally appeared on LDS Living in 2015.

Many years ago, my wife and I were students, had a small family, and had little disposable income. We had one car that had a cracked windshield. The crack wasn’t substantial, but being somewhat of a perfectionist, it bothered me. The only long-term solution was to replace the windshield, which was not in the budget. I lived with the cracked windshield for a couple of years until finally we had saved enough money to replace it. The new windshield was perfect, and I was almost deliriously happy to be rid of that unsightly crack. About a week later I was driving on the freeway. As I passed a large truck, it kicked up a rock that landed squarely on my windshield. It left a large crack.

In her new book, Crossings, Melissa Inouye writes, “The miracle of Zion's one heart and one mind was not that all members of the community had been born identical, but that they had chosen to love and serve each other despite, or perhaps because of, their diversity."

Struggling singer-songwriter Jack Malik gets into an accident during a worldwide blackout. He wakes up the next morning to find the world exactly the same, with one exception: The Beatles never existed.

As Disney fans around the world prepare for The Lion King to hit theaters, we wanted to share some of the gospel lessons that make this story great.

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This article is republished with permission from Book of Mormon Central. For more inspiring and instructive content on the Book of Mormon visit Book of Mormon Central or follow them on Facebook.

"Women have remarkable influence," President M. Russell Ballard recently posted on Instagram. "You sisters have been divinely endowed with a unique kind of discernment and strength that differs in some ways from the gifts our Heavenly Father gave His sons. These differences are intentional and eternal. They don’t make you better than a man, nor do they make you inferior to him. They just make you different—wonderfully, deliberately, everlastingly so."